


Between The Lines

by GoshdarnRabbit



Category: Future Card Buddyfight, Future Card Buddyfight Ace
Genre: F/F, Fluff, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 11:50:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15630123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoshdarnRabbit/pseuds/GoshdarnRabbit
Summary: Mel has a different response to Emma's story about meeting a prince, and Emma asks Mel to try telling a story instead.A different take on the conversation from episode 7 of Ace.





	Between The Lines

Mel sat on a tree stump in the enchanted forest. She opened Echt Biblio, the magical book given to her by her buddy, and started reading.

"Long, long ago there was a sweet princess who wore a bonnet made of cotton candy." narrated Emma.

As if on cue, Mel reached up to said bonnet, pulling out a handful of the sugary treat. She held it up to her mouth to take a bite, but...

"Achoo!" she said, sneezing cutely as she held the candy aside. The enchanted forest shimmered, fading back into the Aibo Academy courtyard.

"Uh, let's pretend that didn't happen!" said Emma, flying by. Light trailed from the lollipop she held high, forming back into the illusion as she passed her buddy. Mel turned her head to watch, blinking as if hardly believing her buddy's amazing power, before turning her attention back to the book.

"The princess was very introverted and loved to read books." continued Emma. "She especially loved the world of folktales."

Mel smiled a little at that. She truly did love everything about fairy stories and folktales, even before she had met her amazing buddy.

"Then, one day, the princess finally met him! A wonderful prince!" said Emma, full of cheer.

Mel blushed as she turned the page, thinking of what her buddy could have to say about the subject of True Love. Her gaze fell on a picture of Yuga Mikado. The Ace of Sports, a popular and lively boy who had recently turned out to be a prodigy at buddyfighting... and who she had barely interacted with, at all, ever. She almost opened her mouth to protest, but her buddy monster anticipated her doubts.

"Uh, wrong guy." said Emma, quickly covering up her mistake in judgement. "That's not him either." she said, as Mel turned the page past an image of Masato Rikuo, the Ace of Sports known for his camaraderie with his loyal Linkdragon Order. But also for his intense focus on physical exercise, which meant she didn't even know if he read schoolbooks, let alone storybooks. Not a Gaston, but not a Prince Adam either.

"Definitely not him!" said Emma, urging Mel to turn past the next page as soon as possible. Mel almost shuddered at the thought of Banjoe Onizuka being the love interest in the story. While she had read many stories of handsome princes turned into beasts or frogs by wicked witches, she was still wary of the rude and brutish boy.

"A handsome prince, that's who she..." Mel turned the page again, going past Subaru Hoshiyomi's picture. "Eh?" She had seen the handsome boy in the library from time to time, and deeply respected his love of books, but she already knew there was someone else in this book for her. Someone else she dearly wished to be the sleeping princess for, awoken by true love's kiss (or, since she'd probably be worried by that, true love's hand-holding).

"I suppose there could always be a handsome princess? I haven't heard of a fairy tale with that ending, but..." said Emma, thrown off a little by Mel going off-script. The book was open to the page of Ion Nanana, a girl who had always reminded Mel of a helpful fairy flitting around above the heads of heroes, guiding them through strange lands.

Mel shook her head. She kept turning the page past others - Mamoru Sekai wearing a guarded look on his face (always hiding something - perhaps he had a secret destiny to slay an evil dragon?), a smiling Light Kurouzu (who she knew, barely, and who would object to being anyone's destined anything), then just diligently turning the pages with only the barest glance at each fighter within.

Mel closed the book, pressing it between her hands with a sigh. She placed it in her lap, and neatly folded her hands on top of it.

"The one I want to fall in love with me..." said Mel, quietly. "They're not in the book. Not right now."

"There's someone you want to fall in love with you?" said Emma, appearing beside Mel with a cute smirk on her face. "Mel is a wonderful princess, like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty or the Little Mermaid!"

Emma paused for a second to consider. "Uh, maybe not that one." she mused.

Mel internally thanked her buddy for taking that off the list. She didn't want her story to be that sad, cursed to be voiceless and unable to tell the one she loved... the one she loved...

"Anyone would be lucky to be Mel's one true love! Do I know them?" said Emma, putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder.

"Eh!" said Mel, suddenly blushing bright-red. "It's too embarrassing to say who!" she said, covering up her face with both hands as she frantically shook her head.

"Then tell me a story about them!" encouraged Emma.

"A story?" said Mel. She paused for a moment or two, her face returning to its normal color. "Once upon a time." she started, before abruptly stopping. She fidgeted with her hands on top of the book.

"Go on, Mel! I want to hear you tell me a story, just once!" smiled Emma.

Mel smiled slightly, picking up the book and holding it against herself as if hugging it.

"Once upon a time, there was a brave girl." said Mel.

"Was she cute?" said Emma.

"Yes." said Mel, without hesitation. Then she blushed again. "I-I-I mean, y-yes." she stuttered a little this time. "She was a cute, brave girl who had a lot of adventures. She fought monsters, and helped her friends, and even became a beautiful dragon."

"But then, one fateful day... this poor, kind, strong girl was trapped inside a book." said Mel. "It wasn't a cursed book, or magic at all, but she was left inside a dusty, forgotten book at the back of a library for who knows how long. Until one day, a princess opened the book and met her. The girl became the princess' buddy, and they had even more amazing adventures together, until..."

Emma reached out to pry one of Mel's hands from the book, taking it in her own. "Until the girl fell in love with the adorable princess who found her!" she said with a smile.

"Eh!!!" said Mel, blushing furiously. "But Mel is an ugly duckling, how could... I mean, the princess was..." she said, falling over her own words to try to hide behind the story she had been telling, like Scheherazade hiding behind a thousand tales.

"All this time I've been telling you that you deserve a happily-ever-after! You've become a beautiful swan, Mel!" said Emma. "I wanted you to have a happy fairy-tale love with a handsome prince or a beautiful princess, but I never dreamed you'd feel the same!"

Mel frowned. "But you said you couldn't think of any stories about two princesses falling in love!"

"Then we'll have to make one ourselves!" smiled Emma.


End file.
